Existing solar-based systems store solar energy in a battery first, and then use the stored energy to generate DC or AC powers. These designs negatively affect the system efficiency, reliability, and availability. Substantial solar power is lost in the battery due to energy storage. The operations of existing systems rely on the integrity of the battery. When the battery degrades, or is disconnected, the system will shut down even if there is plentiful solar energy.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,251,509, and 7,295,865 owned by the Applicant, addresses the efficiency, reliability, and availability problems for solar-based systems. The architecture and charge controller that incorporates the patented method and circuit is applied to a solar-based system. The solar energy is used to power the system directly, and then excess energy is used to charge the battery. Therefore, the storage loss in a battery is reduced. Since the solar energy and battery power the system simultaneously, the patented design is more reliable and readily available.
In addition, with sky rocketing oil price, and global warming, it is imperative to use renewable energy such as solar, wind, heat, tide, wave and biomass energy to replace existing oil and carbon-based energy. Existing solar systems comprising multiple equipments are bulky, and expensive. The application of a single chip solution to solar-based systems is herein provided. However, the Patent Applications are readily applicable to systems powered by other renewable energy such as wind, heat, tidal and waves. The integrated circuit approach can greatly reduce system complexity, size, and cost. It is proposed herein to provide a single chip solution that integrates circuits from a charge controller, a DC-to-DC converter, and a DC-to-AC inverter in a single IC, or module.